Safety coupling for connecting a container to a liquid dispensing apparatus



United States Patent [72] Inventor Iwan Illel'f [50] Field of Search i'llfrl 1r; Raimundstrasse 70, Frankfurt am Main, 392; 222/(lnquired), 56] 2 l 5/(lnquired): l 37/ inquired), Germany 327; 25 l/(lnquired), 92; 28S/(Inquired), 39, 258

[21] Appl.No. 802,158

221 Filed Feb. 25, 1969 1 References Cited [45] Patented Nov. 17, 1970 UNITED STATES PATENTS Priority Feb-29,1968 275,134 4/1883 Burton ran/327x Germany 1,877,529 9/1932 Platt 251/92 [52] U.S.Cl 137/327,

'5 222/561,251/92,285/39,285/258 511 mac: ..F16k51/00 Primary Examiner- Houston S. Bell, J r. Att0rneyKurt Kelman ABSTRACT: A bottle is coupled to a liquid dispensing apparatus by a tubular, valved connector whose valve is locked in the closed position unless the connector is attached to the dispensing apparatus or a special key is used. The coupling holding the connector to the bottle can be disengaged only by means of a key inserted through the open valve in the connector, whereby unauthorized withdrawal of liquid from the bottle is made difficult or impossible.

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Sheet g of 2 IINVENTORI IWAN ILMZFF AGENT SAFETY COUPLING FOR CONNECTING A CONTAINER I TO A LIQUID DISPENSING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to dispensing devices for alcoholic beverages and like liquids, and more particularly to a coupling for connecting a bottle or other container to the dispensing apparatus proper which prevents liquid to be withdrawn from the container otherwise than through the dispensing apparatus.

It is common practice to discharge alcoholic beverages from bottles in bars and similar establishments through dispensing apparatus which releases a metered amount of the liquor when "operated. In order to prevent liquor from being withdrawn and 2 oescmrrlon or THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring initially to FIG. I, there is seen a connector body 1 which is of generally circular cross section and consists of two coaxially superposed parts 2 and 4 formed withrespective portions of an axial passage 11 and-fastened to eachother by screws 5. An inverted bottle 3 communicates with the passage 11 in the connector part 2 through a coaxial tubular extension 6 of the latter. The free end of the extension 6 has axial slots 7,

and the tong-shaped, somewhat resilient, portions of the extension 6 between the slots 7 may be deflected radially from the illustrated relaxed position to expand the extension 6 and prevent withdrawal of the same from the bottle 3.

The main axial portion ofa spigot 8 is received in the extension 6 with sufficient clearance to permit threaded movement of the spigot in the internally threaded passage 11 in the connector part 2. The outer end portion 9 of the spigot 8 is'conically enlarged and is locked with the slotted end of the exten-' sion 6 when the spigot moves from the illustrated position inward of the connector part 2. A pin 10 passes diametrically through the bore of the spigot 8. A liquid-tight connection between the extension 6 and the neck of the bottle 3 is pro- 'vided by a sleeve 12 of cork composition, rubber, or the like device or the like which makes it impossible, or at least very difficult, to withdraw liquor from a container while it is not attached to the dispensing apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION With this object in view, the coupling device of the invention includes a connector formed with a passage and equipped with a valve for the passage and two couplings for coupling the connector to a container and to a dispensing apparatus, respectively, in sealed communication of the passage with the coupled container and apparatus. A lock normally locks the valve in the passage closing position, but permits movement of the valve between the open and closed positions when the connector is coupled to the dispensing apparatus.

A releasing mechanism which permits separation of the connector from the container is normally accessible only through the open valve in the connector for disengaging the container coupling. The coupling which seals the connector to the dispensing apparatus is released automatically when the valve is moved in a direction from the open toward the closed position, whereby separation of the sealed container together with the connector from the dispensing apparatus becomes possible.

The exact nature of this invention as well as other objects and many of the attendant advantages thereof will readily become apparent from the following detailed descriptionwhen considered in connection with the appended drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing:

FIG. I shows a coupling device of the invention on a partly illustrated bottle in elevational section onthe bottle axis;

FIG. 2 shows a coupling element of a dispensing apparatus matingly engageable with the device of FIG. 1 in a --corresponding sectional view;

FIG. 3 shows the apparatus of FIG 1 in section on the linev III-III on a smaller scale than that of FIG. I;

FIG. 4 illustrates the device of FIG. 3 in section on the line lV-IV;

FIG. 5 shows the device of FIG. 4 in section on the line V-V; and v FIG. 6 illustrates a key for use with the apparatus'of FIG. I in a corresponding section.

FIGS. 7 and 8 respectively illustrate a modified element for the apparatus ot'FlG. I in a view corresponding to that of FIG. I and in transverse section on the line VIII-VIII respectively; and

FIG. 9 illustrates a modified coupling device of the invention in sectional elevation.

fixedly mounted on the extension 6.

The lower radial face I3 of the connector part 2 and the opposite face of the connector part 4 jointly define a guide groove 14 for an elongated, flat valve slide 15 formed with an aperture 16 which connects the two parts of the passage II when the slide is moved toward the left from the passage-closing position illustrated in FIGS. 1, 3, and 4. O-rings I7 partly recessed in the aforementioned radial faces of the connector parts prevent leakage of liquid from the passage 11 along the slide 15.

One longitudinal end 18 of the slide 15 is offset at right angles to permit convenient grasping of the slide for manual movement of the same between its open and closed positions. The other end. 31 is bent twice at right angles to form a coupling release element whose functions will be described hereinbelow'.

The valve slide 15 is normally locked in the illustrated closed position by four tumblers I9 partly received in respective notches 24 in the longitudinal edges of the slide I5. As is best seen in FIG. 4, each tumbler I9 is a cylinder axially movable in aligned bores 21 of the connector parts 2, 4 and normally held in a nonillustrated locking position by a helical compression spring 22 in one of the bores. An annular groove 20 in the circumference of the tumbler, when axially aligned with the slide 15, as shown in FIG. 4, permits the slide to open and close the passage 11. Coaxial actuating pins23 project from the tumblers 19 into the cavity of the approximately cupshaped connector part 4.

An annular groove 27 in the inner axial wall of the connector part 4 receives a coupling spring 28 which is an oblong, open wire ring, as is best seen in FIG. 5, and extends into a radial slot 30 in the axial wall of the part 4 in thedirection of its longer axis when in the illustrated relaxed condition. The aforementioned end 31 of the valve slide 15 enters the slot 30 to compress the spring 28 into a more circular shape fully received in the groove 27 when the slide 15 moves from the passage-opening toward the passage-closing position seen in FIGS. 1, 3, and ,4. When relaxed, the spring 28 projects partly from the groove 27. Y

The bottle 3 can be connected by the connector body I and the elements mounted thereon to a dispensing apparatus equipped with a counter or meter, notthemselves relevant to this invention. FIG. 2 shows a coupling element 26 of the dispensing apparatus, not otherwise illustrated, which is dimensioned forconforming partial insertion into the cavity of the connector part 4. A radial top face-25a of the coupling element is formed with a bore aligned with the passage II when the coupling element is received 'in-the connector part 4, and receiving a raised rim about the orifice of the passage in the cavity of the connector part. The depth of axial insertion of the element 26 into the part 4 is determined by engagement of the spring 28 with an annular groove 29 in the element 26. If

the coupling element 26 is received in the connector part 4, the slide may be moved sufficiently in a direction from the open toward the closed position, that is, toward the right,'as viewed in FIG. 1, to engage the coupling release end 31 of the slide with the coupling spring 28, thereby to withdraw the spring from the groove 29 entirely into the groove 27, and to permit separation of the bottle 3 and the connector body 1 from the dispensing apparatus represented in the drawing by its element 26.

While the coupling element 26 is secured to the connector body 1 by the coupling spring 28,- its top face 25a engages the free ends of the actuating pins 23 and pushes the tumblers 19 into the position seen in FIG. 4 in which the tumblers permit the valve slide 15 to be moved manually by means of its end 18.

The key 50 may thus be used for opening the passage 11;

when the bottle 3 with the attached connector body 1 is between the neck of the bottle 3 and the spigot 8 unavoidable in the first-described device, and thus permits the bottle to be emptied into the dispensing apparatus virtually to the last drop. As is also shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the pin 10 may be replaced by an integral portion 10a of the spigot wall which is severed from the remainder of the wall in two spaced radial planes and displaced toward the spigot axis for engagement by the key 50. Instead of the enlarged heavy end 9 of the spigot 8, the free end 9' of the spigot '8' is conically flared, as by spinning.

The modified connector body la shown in FIG. 9 has a cupshaped end portion 2a dimensioned to fit over thecoupling element 26. An axial bore in the body la is partly threaded The key 50 shown in FIG. 6 has an approximately cylindriand receives one end ofa tube 35 whose other axially projects from the la, has axial slots 36, and is expanded into aresilient bulb which may be inserted into the neck of a bottle, and is thereafter retained in the bottle by its resiliency.

An internal shoulder 39 of the connector portion 2a provides a seat for a valve 37 which is a flanged tube having axial slots 40. The flange of the valve 37 is biased by a helical com- 1 pression spring 38 into sealing engagement with the shoulder removed from'the dispensing apparatus26. A flat metal bar 32 is approximately coaxially attached to the key body, and its free end has a notch 33. The strip is narrow enough to pass through the aligned passage 11 and aperture 16, and long enough for engagement of the pin 10 in the notch 33. When the key body is turned while the notch 33 receives the pin 10, the spigot 8 may be moved outward of the extension 6 until the latter can contract resiliently to the position seen in FIG. 1 in which the bottle 3 may he slipped from the connector body In using the coupling device of this invention, a bottle is uncorked, and the extension 6 of the coupling device is inserted into the upwardly directed bottle neck while the spigot 8 is in the position shown in FIG. 1 and the slotted end of the exten sion 6 is relaxed. The spigot is then turned by means of the key 50 to expand the extension 6, and fixedly to couple the bottle to the connector part 2 while the valve slide 15 is in the open position. The valve is then shifted into the closed position seen in FIG. 1, whereupon the bottle 3 may safely be inverted, and the connector part 4 slipped over the normally fixed coupling element 26. When the valve slide 15 is further moved toward the right. the coupling spring 28 is deformed to permit the coupling element 26 to reach its operative position in which the spring 28 enters the groove 29 to secure the bottle 3 and the connector 1 on the dispensing apparatus, while the tumblers 19 are shifted to unlock the slide 15. The valve slide 15 may now be operated freely as needed to release the liquor from the bottle 3.

When the bottle is empty, it maybe disengaged together with the connector I from the dispensing apparatus by shifting the slide 15 to the right, as viewed in FIG. 1, and another bottle, previously uncorked, fitted with a coupling device of the invention, and sealed by closing the valve slide 15, may be installed quickly without tools or keys.

The key 50 thus is needed only for sealing uncorked bottles prior to installation on the dispensing apparatus, and for separating bottles from the coupling device when removed from the dispensing apparatus. The key 50 may be retained by a supervisor who may, from time to time, make a group of bot- 'the apparatus of FlG. l by a spigot 8' having radial openings 34 which prevent the trapping of a small amount of liquor 39, whereby the passage through the body la and the tube 35 is closed, and the end of the valve 37 remote from the flange projects into the cavity of the end portion 20. When the coupling element 26 of the dispensing apparatus is received in the coupling device shown in FIG. 9, the valve 37 is displaced axially inward of the body la, the flange of the valve 37 is lifted from the shoulder 39, and liquid can flow by gravity from a nonillustrated bottle on the slotted portion of the tube 35 into the dispensing apparatus.

1 claim:

l. A coupling device for coupling a container adapted to contain a liquid to apparatus for dispensing said liquid comprising-in combination:

a. a connector body formed with a passage therethrough;

b. a valve member mounted on said body for movement between respective positions in which said member opens and closes said passage;

c. first and second coupling means on said body for engaging said container and said apparatus respectively, and for coupling said container and said apparatus to said body in sealed communication with said passage;

d. locking means responsive to movement of said valve member into said passage-closing position for locking the valve member in the last-mentioned position thereof, and responsive'to engagement of said second coupling means with said dispensing apparatus for permitting movement of said valve member between said positions of the same;

e. first releasing means accessible only through said passage in the open condition of the same for releasing said first coupling means and for thereby permitting separation of said connector body from said container; and

'f. second releasing means responsive to movement of said valve member in a direction from the passage opening toward the passage closing position for releasing said second coupling means and for thereby permitting separation of said connector body from said apparatus.

2. A device'as set forth in claim 1, wherein said valve member is slidably mounted on said body for reciprocating movement between said positions thereof, and said locking means include a tumbler member, yieldably resilient means biasing said tumbler member toward aposition in which the tumbler member lockingly engages the valve member, and an actuating member projecting from said body for engagement by said dispensing apparatus, and operatively connected to 4. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said connector body is formed with a recess, and said second coupling means include a coupling spring normally partly received in said recess and partly projecting from the same for coupling engagement with said apparatus, said second releasing means being operative to retract said coupling spring into said recess.

5. A device as set forth in claim 4, wherein said second releasing means include a releasing element mounted on said valve memberfor movement therewith and engageable with said coupling spring by said movement of the valve member.

6. A device as set forth in claim 5, wherein said connector body has a cavity and an axial wall in said cavity, said recess being formed in said wall and annular, said coupling spring being oblong when in the relaxed condition. v

7. A device as set forth in claim 6, wherein said connector body is formed with a slot therethrough communicating with said'recess. said'releasing element moving into and out of said recess through said slot when said valve member moves between said positions thereof. I

8. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said first coupling body and dimensioned for insertion in said passage in the open condition of the same, said first releasing means including elements on said key member and on said flaring member engageahle for axial movement of said flaring member by said key member.

10. A device as set forth in claim 9. wherein said flaring member is tubular and threadcdly mounted on said connector body. 

